Sunday, April 20, 2014

1 Month Old!

Mr. Miles turned 1 month old on Friday, and he is such a different baby than the one we brought home! He's still extremely alert, and insists on being held so that he can see the room and everyone in it. He holds his head up way more than expected, and is a milk drinking machine! We love seeing him have a fun time on his play mat, and make happy squawking noises at us and the ceiling fan.

Miles is also a healthy, growing boy! His pediatrician visits have gone well, and the doctor is very pleased with the rate that he is gaining weight and length. He's gained two pounds since leaving the hospital 4 weeks ago, and has already outgrown most of his newborn clothes. He is in the 70th percentile for height, but only 40th for weight so he's shaping up to be a long and lean baby (so far).

It hasn't been an easy month, though, and we never know if we're going to have a good night with 1-2 quick feedings or spend 90 minutes trying to feed and calm an angry infant at 3am. He can be very gassy and difficult to soothe, and requires lots of bouncing and constant movement when he's unhappy - no cuddling on the sofa for us! It seems like some days we spend most of his awake time trying to get him to stop crying and go back to sleep. However, things seem to be getting better and we're looking forward to the weeks ahead when everyone insists that it gets easier.

We've had lots of visitors this month, and Nick and I are super grateful for all the help and food. We'd be eating a lot more sandwiches if not for our wonderful family and friends!

Some more tidbits about Miles at 1 month:

He can go from furious to smiling in the same minute. When upset, he straightens his body like a board or furiously kicks whoever is holding him -- not fun for a Mama with a c-section scar.

Speaking of kicking, it's pretty much his favorite thing to do. He likes to lay on his back and kick his legs really fast and laugh, which never gets old to watch! However, he's not a huge fan of tummy time and never makes it more than 3-5 minutes before throwing a fit. Admittedly, we've not been the best about enforcing the 30 minute per day goal because the resulting fits can go on for over half an hour and it's not worth it. He doesn't spend much time at all on his back aside from sleeping, so we'll keep working on it but he's not in danger of getting a flat head.

This kid can chug a bottle, and we've had to switch to a slower flow nipple to keep him from drinking all the milk in 2 minutes (he drinks a bottle of pumped milk at night to save time and let Nick help out)

Miles is obsessed with his hands, but whacks himself in the face a lot. He can escape from every swaddle blanket we've tried, and at this point we will happily pay for a real baby-sized straight jacket to keep him from waking himself up so much. (If this is not yet available, I will invent it and give it a stupid name like the Cozy Pod)

Maggie has been a wonderful big sister, and wants to know where the baby is at all times. She sits by his bassinet and makes sure that nobody steals him while we eat dinner and keeps me company during night feedings. Charlie, on the other hand, is not adjusting well. We aren't sure that he realizes that Miles is a person and not a toy that Nick and I are not sharing, but he has snapped at him (not aggressively, it's odd) and is not allowed near the baby. We aren't sure what to do, but will be consulting a trainer soon.

Nick is an amazing baby soother, and Miles loves to lay on his lap and sway. It is apparently not the same at all when I do it, and my attempts are unacceptable and deserving of an angry kick to the belly.

Hopefully I can manage 11 more posts like this one, so we'll have content for a baby book one day!

P.S. If you have an Apple device and want to be added to my Miles photo stream, just let me know. I try to keep the picture sharing on Facebook to a minimum so as not to be "that lady" cluttering up everyone's feed. (You need to have iOS 7 installed to receive the invitation)